Michigan House Bill HB4618

Michigan 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 6/10/25
• Refer: 6/10/25

Caption

Businesses: limited liability companies; certain references in the Michigan limited liability company act; make gender neutral. Amends sec. 504 of 1993 PA 23 (MCL 450.4504). TIE BAR WITH: HJR F'25

Summary

HB 4618 amends section 504 of the Michigan Limited Liability Company Act to make the statute gender-neutral. The bill replaces references to “husband and wife” with “spouses” in the provision allowing a membership interest in an LLC to be held in joint tenancy, while preserving the same legal rules, restrictions, consequences, and survivorship rights that already apply to jointly held real estate. It also retains the existing rule that a member has no interest in specific LLC property. The bill is tied to a proposed constitutional change and would not take effect unless Senate Joint Resolution S00781'25 or House Joint Resolution H00781'25 becomes part of the Michigan Constitution. In practical terms, the measure does not create a new ownership right or change the substance of LLC property law; it updates the language of the statute to reflect modern, gender-neutral terminology and align the LLC act with current drafting conventions.

Impact

HB 4618 would amend Michigan’s LLC statute, specifically MCL 450.4504, by revising the wording governing how a membership interest may be held by married couples/spouses in joint tenancy. The legal effect is limited to terminology: the bill preserves existing survivorship and ownership rules while making the statute more inclusive and consistent with gender-neutral language used elsewhere in law. Because the bill is tie-barred to a constitutional resolution, it would only take effect if the related constitutional amendment is adopted.

Sentiment

The available context suggests generally neutral to supportive sentiment, as the bill is a technical, noncontroversial cleanup measure focused on modernizing statutory language. There is no recorded committee testimony or vote history in the provided materials indicating opposition or debate. The tie-bar to a constitutional resolution suggests the bill is part of a broader package, but the bill itself appears to have been presented as a straightforward conforming amendment.

Contention

The main point of contention, if any, is procedural rather than substantive: the bill cannot become effective on its own and depends on passage of the linked constitutional resolution. Any discussion of the measure would likely center on whether the broader constitutional change should be adopted, not on the LLC language itself. The only substantive change in the bill is the replacement of gendered references with gender-neutral terms, which is unlikely to be controversial.